Wednesday, December 28, 2011

"All words are pegs to hang ideas on." This was said by Henry Ward Beecher, a 19th Century minister, author, and lecturer. His older sister just so happened to be Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. I heard his wise words about a month ago at a science conference, and they've been ruminating in my mind ever since.

With my lack of blogging this fall...winter...ok, first semester, I decided to compile a mega blog post of vocabulary resources that you can customize. I tried to make them self-explanatory and easy to use in Word or PowerPoint. You can use them by opening the document, adding whatever text you need/want in whichever areas you deem necessary, then print. Yes, many times we ask our students to create their own foldables from start to finish. I have found especially with my little second graders, that sometimes with just a little bit of it already filled in, they are more focused on what I want them to remember...THE MEANING!!! (It is also less intimidating to them if I don't hand them a blank piece of paper and say, "OK, make a foldable with these 6 new words. Good luck!")

You may have to play around with your printer for any that require printing on both sides. For my printers at home and school (both HP), I print one side, turn the printed side over so that the blank side then faces up, place that stack in the bypass tray (blank side up), and then print the second side. Voila...it works! Play around with yours, and I hope it works for you on the first try! [fingers crossed]

So, here are some free goodies for you, and I hope you are able to use them and adjust them for your students. Many of these foldables can be glued into your students' interactive notebooks so they can be used as resources later on.

Oh, one more thing...what you see below are screen shots, but I've hyperlinked everything for you because I love you. They are all editable documents that you can download for free...again, because I love you. :)

WARNING: Sometimes, when you see these documents in Google docs, they look like a hot mess! In the top right corner, look for DOWNLOAD ORIGINAL. When you open them in their respective programs, they are totally fine and normal and calm like your students moments after your principal leaves your classroom from doing an observation or walk-through. If you have any problems, just email me and I'll hook you up...because I love you. :)

Vocabulary Flip Flap Book Title on Top
*print page one first; then print page two on the back of page one
*fold the page in half and cut along each line to create flaps that open up revealing definitions
*you can do without the title
*I made this one with my kiddos, and I scanned a finished product into my computer which I don't have access to right now. As soon as I get access to it, I'll upload it.

Vocabulary Flip Flap Book Title on Side

*Print page one first; then print page two on the back of page one.
*Fold the page in half and cut along each line to create flaps that open up revealing definitions.

Vocabulary 3 Door Flip Flap Book
*Cut on dotted lines and fold flaps in towards middle.
*The solid lines in the middle do not really serve a purpose since anything that is written would be written on the reverse side of the text you see. However, they would be faintly seen and could serve as a guide for students. You can also have students fold on those lines so that fold lines are created which would then create more evident boxes for students to write in.
*Definitions can be written (by students) on the inside "flaps" or areas.
*There are two different page orientations for you to choose from.

Vocabulary 4 Door Flip Flap Book
*Cut on dotted lines and fold flaps in towards middle.
*The solid lines in the middle do not really serve a purpose since
anything that is written would be written on the reverse side of the
text you see. However, they would be faintly seen and could serve as a
guide for students. You can also have students fold on those lines so
that fold lines are created which would then create more evident boxes
for students to write in.
*Definitions can be written (by students) on the inside "flaps" or areas.
*There are two different page orientations for you to choose from.

Four Corner Mini Book
*This is so versatile!
*This is another one where you will print on page one, flip it and print on page two.
*Or you can add text to the corner triangles (on page one) and have your students add their ideas to the inside squares/diamonds (on page two).
*Just fold in half and half again first; open up.
*Then just fold your corners down.
*The orientation of this flip book can be more like a diamond...just rotate it so that the corners are at the top and sides.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

With the craziness that this school year has brought, my blogging goal for October was to post at least twice this month. Well, I have just a little more than 24 hours to meet my goal, so mission accomplished. Yea, me!

One of the objectives in 2nd grade is to identify the basic needs of plants and animals. And if you've been following me for a while, you know that I am not the type of teacher who likes kids to regurgitate information in the format of a worksheet. So I designed an activity where my students could apply their learning of the basic needs of plants and animals while being creative. I also wanted them to include what we've been noticing in nonfiction texts...all of those awesome text features. Just click on any of the images below to get the free download for this activity.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Ok, ok, ok....so it's been over a month since I've posted here. Believe me, I know! The start of this school year threw my team and me an unbelievable curve ball, and we are just now starting to come up for air.

So, here's a little something I threw together tonight for all of my incredibly faithful followers, my tremendously wonderful friends who have continued check my blog and leave such sweet comments. I'm so sorry that I have been incognito. I literally have been working nonstop on "school business," church stuff and training for my marathon since August 15. Today was the first day that I took a nap, and even though it lasted for only one hour, it was GLORIOUS!

My freebie for you today is a set of 16 cards that can be used anytime you want your kids to chant words. In 2nd grade, we have some "phonics charts" or word charts that contain rows of words that follow a phonics rule of the week. There are about 5 words on a row and 4-5 rows on a chart. We usually display one chart via the projector each day, and we ask our kiddos to choral read the words. And that's all fine and dandy, but come on now. Let's make that a little more fun. So, some of these chants are my original ideas and some of them are ideas that I've tweaked from traditional word wall chants that I found from other websites and blogs. So {here} ya go...enjoy! Happy reading! Oh, and if you have more ideas to add, please leave a comment and I'll make more cards to add to this set.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

This is my teaching blog. So many of you read my posts hoping to gain a teaching tool, a lesson idea, or a quick tip to make your life a little easier in the classroom. Thank you all for reading my posts and leaving me such encouraging comments. I know you don't even know me, and yet you so faithfully check in here as you strive to become an even better teacher. Well, today, I want to shift gears a little. I want to share something very near and dear to my heart. I hope you all know that I just want to see cancer annihilated. My dad lost his battle to cancer in 2007, and since then I've been running with The Leukemia & Lymphoma's Society Team In Training as a way to help others who are in the same situation that my dad was in. You can read more about my sweet daddy and his story here. Please allow me to take my teaching shoes off and my running shoes on...

Yesterday
was an exciting day for me! My devotion to helping to fight cancer in
memory of my dad was reaffirmed, and my dedication to training for my
fifth marathon was reignited. Why? My running buddies with Team In Training
met for our first run at the lake, and this little guy's mom is in my
pace group. May I please introduce one of the cutest little
itty-bitties ever...Bennett!

Oh my goodness! What a cutie pa-tutie!

Bennett is 18 months old. He is A.DOR.ABLE! He is a
future Longhorn. He has leukemia. Of course, if you ask his mom,
Kirsa, you'd never guess that he's in his 5th month of treatment
watching him scramble around with that precious smile on his face. On
April 9, 2011, Bennett was diagnosed with high risk B-cell Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). As Kirsa and I were running, we were
talking about how he was diagnosed. Unbelievably, Kirsa told me that
just five days before his diagnosis, he had passed his one-year
check-up with flying colors. Over the past several months, Bennett's
parents have had to witness him endure
countless pokes to his body, blood transfusions, lumbar punctures, bone
marrow aspirations, several rounds of chemotherapy, associated side
effects, treatment for blood infections, and many nights in the
hospital.

Bennett is "pole-surfing" while his body receives his current protocol of chemotherapy.

Bennett's treatments will conclude on July
28, 2014. He will be four and a half years old. He will have gone
from baby to toddler to little boy, all while fighting cancer. I can't
even imagine the celebration his family will be having on that glorious
day! Please pray specifically that Bennett's body will remain strong
through the next 60-day protocol. According to Bennett's doctors, this
next protocol will be a tough one.

You can make a difference in Bennett's and all of the other patients' lives who are fighting against this horrific disease by making a donation. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society uses your dollars to help find cures and better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma,
Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. With your support, LLS can help
improve the quality of life for Bennett, other patients just like
him, and their families as well.

Kirsa, Jessica (my
other running buddy whose story I will share next time), and I will
continue to train as a way to do SOMETHING in the fight against cancer.
While we do the training, we will be praying for healing, comfort,
peace and that His love would invade the hearts of those who hear our
stories. May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Him, so
you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Kirsa, me, and Jessica...a force to be reckoned with!

So what are you waiting for? Click here. Make a difference. Save a life.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Last year my district started using McGraw-Hill's reading series. While the station ideas for each week's main selection are good, sometimes I find myself spending a lot of time explaining the directions. After reading The Daily 5, I decided to create some generic literacy centers that could be used with any story/selection. So, drum roll please...I present to you a set of 16 centers that can be set up in your classroom with just a few materials that you probably already have on hand.

I created a few stations for Words, Reading, and Writing. Here's what is in each category:

Words:

Making Words

Making Words Recording Sheet (The title font is called Grilled Cheese.)

What's your favorite literacy center activity? Make a comment or share a link in your comment. Go ahead and download these literacy stations {here}. As always, if you'd like an editable version, just leave me a comment with your email address.